If you’re exercising regularly but feeling like nothing is happening, these signs will help you understand what’s working and what’s not.
Knowing the do’s and dont’s of training is a huge help in progressing with your goal. If your routine isn’t delivering the results you want, you’re not seeing physical differences and you keep feeling the impact of training through pains and strains, then your body could be telling you something.
You shouldn’t feel sore after every workout
You’ll be pleased to know you can get tremendous visible results without feeling muscle pain, also referred to as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), after every session. There’s no truth behind the ‘no pain, no gain’ theory when it comes to weight training. Yes, it’s important to train with enough intensity, but if you keep hurting or feeling like you’re more sore than usual, it could be a warning sign that things aren’t quite right with your training. One possible reason for being sore after every session is that you are simply training too much. Training intensely without taking adequate time to repair can lead to suboptimal muscle damage and decreased performance. However, this doesn’t mean stopping your training altogether, your program could just need tweaking with advice from a personal trainer. Our trainers can spot where you’re pushing yourself too hard or using poor form – feel free to ask any of us for advice!
Progression is KEY
It’s been months since you started this training program, and as you have been engaging in the same exercises week in week out, you might feel it’s getting extremely difficult to up the weight and increase your strength with the exercise. It could be due to the fact that your body, brain and nervous system have adapted to the movement, but there’s always room for improvement! You don’t have to get stronger each and every session. Increasing your strength should be a goal, but it doesn’t have to be the only one. Consider increasing the number of repetitions or sets you can do, increasing the duration or intensity of your training, or focusing on really mastering the technique of the exercise, rather than switching to something new altogether. Fancy exercises don’t elicit better results, stick to the basics and progress with them as much as you can!
Be flexible
Flexibility is a requirement if you are in this for the long run. There will be times when life gets in the way and you struggle to train as planned. Maybe work gets in the way, or there is a schedule change due to some family commitment, or maybe you just really didn’t feel up to it – when these things happen it’s important to have the flexibility to accommodate the changes and keep making progress towards your goals without giving up. After you’ve dealt with whatever else is going on in your life, pick up right where you left off and get back into your routine. Feeling guilty about missing a training session or two is only going to move you in the wrong direction. Furthermore, getting back into the rhythm of training will more than likely make you feel better – no one regrets a training session once it’s done!
